Paul
Goble
Staunton, January 18 – Residents of
the Russian capitals have suffered more from the economic crisis than has the
remainder of the population, and the decline in incomes there has “leveled the
structural differences between the major cities and the provinces,” according
to a new study by the Moscow Institute of Sociology.
The research, reported in today’s Nezavisimaya gazeta, finds that “unlike
the situation of the early 2000s, the population of Moscow and St. Petrsburg regarding
the relative size of the poor, the rich and those inbetween is not different from
the one in the provinces,” a major change since sociologists looked at this in
2003 (ng.ru/economics/2018-01-18/1_7153_crisis.html).
The situation outside the capitals has advanced
significantly regarding material possessions and the electronic world, and the
difference between the two regarding durable goods and Internet penetration has
declined as well, the scholars say.
In
2003, half of the residents of the capitals had mobile telephones but only 20
percent in the provinces did. Now, “almost 100 percent” of both have them. The share owning computers has increased from
76 percent to 89 percent in the capitals while in the provinces, the share in the
provinces has shot up from 20 percent to 76 percent.
Fifty-four
percent of residents of the capitals use computers; the share in the provinces
is only slightly lower – 44 percent. In 2017, 26 percent of villagers said they
participate in social networks every day, “one percent more than in the
capitals but slightly less in district and federal subject centers where the
numbers are 30 and 34 percent respectively.
The
incomes of residents of the capitals remain higher – two to 2.5 times more than
residents in the regions – but the economic crisis has affected the former more
than the latter. Residents of the capitals “more than residents of the provinces
felt the negative dynamic not only of their material situation but also their
standard of living as a whole.”
Indicative
of this is that about 59 percent of the residents of the capitals say that
their losses from the recent crisis have been “catastrophic or essential,”
while 54 percent of residents of other cities and only 43 percent of those in
rural areas express that view, the sociological study says.
But
despite these changes, Academician Mikhail Gorshkov observes, “the residents of
the major cities are more optimistic than other Russians and expect positive
changes in the future.” They have more
financial resources like second homes than do residents of villages: 55 percent
as opposed to 25 percent in the latter. Indeed, now, only 40 percent of
villagers own land.
Duma
deputy Mikhail Shchapov says that a major reason that people in the villagers
didn’t feel the current crisis as much is that they had not lived as well
earlier and so didn’t feel the decline as much as residents of the capitals have. Indeed, the fact that 43 percent of rural
people describe the situation as catastrophic says a lot.
“If
even people who have nothing to lose because they had nothing all the same feel
losses, then the decline in the economy really has an all-national and catastrophic
character.”
One
important development that has affected both urban and rural Russians is the appearance
of a greater willingness to relocate to improve their lives. Now “about three percent”
do so every year, with the share in the capitals “more than twice” that of the
one in the provinces. But everyone is now familiar with people moving in and
out.
According to the new study as
summarized by Nezavisimaya gazeta, “in
2017 in all types of population points without exception, the majority
consisted not of indigenous residents but of new arrivals. More than that, 44
percent of those asked where they would like to live named a place other than the
one where they live.” Thus, “the potential for migration is today very large.”
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